Council will not be responsible for thawing out Deer Lake’s water lines, but it will help reroute lines that have frozen up this winter.

That’s one of the messages out of Monday’s public meeting as council discussed an invoice the town received from a homeowner hoping to be paid back for getting his waterline thawed.

“We don’t know where the line is actually frozen, whether it’s on town property or (on personal property),” said Coun. Elmo Bingle.

“It’s something we cannot determine.”

The town has placed an order for a machine that uses steam to thaw out waterlines but, due to the frigid winter, other towns and cities across North America need them as well. Because of the backlog, Deer Lake has been told that it won’t receive its unit until May.

“Hopefully we won’t need it by then,” said Bingle, who then quipped, “We might even need it in July, who knows?”

As of Monday afternoon, the town had about 38 homes with frozen waterlines. Mayor Dean Ball said figures prior to this year show there were only four homes in eight years that had frozen waterlines, which is the reason the town never needed the machine in the past.

Deer Lake is also seeing an increased road salt consumption, having to order an extra 500 tonnes of salt recently, which council hopes will get the town through this winter.

In January, a warming shelter had to be established in the local high school during sudden power outages, and the town is even considering a diesel storage for its generators.

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Barrelman

March 25, 2014 - 19:42

What Mayor Ball and Coun. Bingle are failing to point out, is the breakdown of fire hydrants around town, and the dire consequences of their " Blind Faith " in Deer Lake existing infrastructure. Shame on you.